(Requests for an amendment to be moved by
Senator Bob Brown on behalf of the Australian Greens in committee
of the whole)

Statement pursuant to the order of

the
Senate of 26 June 2000

Amendment (1)

The effect
of this amendment is to expand the coverage of the Minerals
Resource Rent Tax to include gold, uranium and rare earth metals.
This will have the effect that entities which would otherwise not
be liable to pay the Minerals Resource Rent Tax would be liable to
pay the tax. If the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Bill 2001 is a bill
imposing taxation, the request for the amendment is a request to
amend a bill imposing taxation.

"If a bill does not impose taxation, the
Senate amend it, and if a bill does impose taxation the Senate may
seek amendments to it by way of requests."

The Senate has long followed the practice that
it should treat as requests amendments to bills that impose
taxation.

On the basis that these amendments amend a
bill imposing taxation, it is in accordance with the precedents of
the Senate that these amendments be moved as requests.

Statement by Senator Bob Brown of the Senate pursuant

to
the order of the Senate of 26 June 2000

Australian Greens Amendment
- unnumbered sheet

Minerals Resource Rent Tax Bill 2011

(Request for an amendment to be moved by the
Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Bob Brown, in committee of
the whole)

Statement pursuant to the order of

the
Senate of 26 June 2000

To be
circulated separately

Statement by the Clerk of the Senate pursuant

to
the order of the Senate of 26 June 2000

The
amendments to the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Bill 2011 circulated
by the Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Bob Brown, broaden
the tax base proposed by the bill by adding gold, uranium and rare
earth metals to the materials that the scheme taxes, effectively
coal, iron ore and coal seam gas. By proposing to tax substances
that are not currently subject to the tax, the request for the
amendment transforms the bill into a bill imposing taxation. Under
section 53 of the Constitution, the Senate may not initiate a bill
imposing taxation. According to Odgers’ Australian Senate
Practice (12 th edition), page 299:

… it could be argued that it would
be open to the Senate to request the insertion in a bill
originating in the House of a provision having the effect of
imposing taxation. The better view, however, is that such
amendments may not be moved in the Senate at all, in that, by
turning a bill into a bill imposing taxation, they are contrary to
the initiation provision of the first paragraph of section 53 of
the Constitution.

This was the subject of a ruling by President Calvert
in 2003 in similar circumstances. In relation to the Customs Tariff
Amendment (ACIS) Legislation Bill 2003, amendments were ruled out
of order (and were withdrawn by Senator Bob Brown) because they
would have had the effect of converting the bill into a bill
imposing taxation and the Senate cannot initiate a bill imposing
taxation under paragraph 1 of section 53 of the Constitution.. The
Minerals Resource Rent Tax Bill 2011 is not a bill imposing
taxation as it does not actually impose the tax or set the rates of
the tax. For the Senate to amend such a bill so as to broaden the
base of the tax is the equivalent of the Senate initiating an
imposition of tax. This is unconstitutional.

It is not in
accordance with the practices and precedents of the Senate that
this amendment be moved in the form of a request. Furthermore, the
amendment is not in order according to the practices and precedents
of the Senate.